


He'll See I'm Not So Tough

by QueenoftheRandomWord42



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adoption, Babies, Break Up, Brief Pepper Potts/Tony Stark - Freeform, Civil War? What Civil War?, Clint Is a Good Bro, Eventual Romance, Fic Titles inspired by Billy Joel Songs, Goes though Avengers thru Winter Soldier, Infinity War? What Infinity War?, Kid Fic, M/M, Minor Happy Hogan/Pepper Potts, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Oblivious Tony Stark, Pining, Pining Steve Rogers, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Rule 63 Verse, Slow Burn, Steve Is a Good Bro, Stony Loves Steve AO3 Challenge, There is no infidelity in this fic, There is no war in Ba Sing Se, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Wing AU!, a/b/o verse (mentioned), and chapter six is self indulgent cheese with multiverse shenanigans, but that dissolves into friendship, mentioned a merman verse and a DnD verse too, sam is a good bro, there is a fade to black sex scene in chapter five because I suck at writing sex scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 13:43:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15171950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheRandomWord42/pseuds/QueenoftheRandomWord42
Summary: In an Alternative Universe where people are born with a pair of wings on their backs, Steve Rogers has had a conundrum since birth, his ability to attract his mate or soulmate depends on his ability to attract them with their flutterings, but since becoming Captain America they have been comedically tiny.When he wakes up in 2012 he meets Tony Stark, Genus, Playboy, Philanthropist, and the only person since Peggy Carter to make his wings flutter, but which Tony is oblivious to. Will Steve get over his growing crush on Tony Stark, or would Tony Stark remain oblivious to Steve's pining?This is part of the Stony Loves Steve AO3 Challenge





	1. I'd Rather Laugh With The Sinners Than Cry With The Saints

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheseGrimmAdventures](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseGrimmAdventures/gifts).



> The title of this chapter is inspired by Billy Joel's song "Only the Good Die Young".

For thousands of years philosophers, alchemists, and scientists have debated about humanity’s place in the natural order. Aristotle’s chain of being where humans were created in the image of the gods but were too flawed to join them. For hundreds of years Christian priests in churches telling their parishes about how the default of Adam and Eve and how the biting of a forbidden apple lead to the first man and woman becoming diminished mortal parodies of their once glorious forms.

The developments in science gave another believable answer when modern genetics managed to isolate two genes that separate humans from their closest evolutionary relatives, a gene that increases brain size called NOTCH2NL, and CERAF11 the gene that produces vestigial angelic wings on the backs of humans.

The existence of angel wings had been the cause of scientific and religious controversy, and Steve even remembered being baffled when he read about the Theory of Evolution in what little high school he could attend as a teen, however, his science teacher was very much in the creationist side of the argument, the teacher’s wings puffing and flaring out importantly to prove his point.

Bucky—who had actually read the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin—handed Steve a note that quoted Darwin’s hypostasis about how random mutation might have produced the angelic wings, but as they neither hindered, nor were detrimental to human survival, remained neutrally selected and remained in the gene pool. Steve then responded by doodling a Monkey version of their teacher with comedically tiny wings.

Since the teacher was a bit of a tenured jerk who implied that he had better things to do than teach brain dead drains on society, Steve was more inclined to believe Bucky on this argument.

Steve hadn’t minded the size of his own wings, which were roughly the length of his hands sprouting along his shoulder blades, one hanging lopsided when a bully broke Steve’s collarbone and wishbone when Steve was twelve.

Since Steve had smaller than average wings, many bullies seemed to believe that this made Steve as an ideal target, one that Steve was more than obliged to disprove, others assumed that Steve had either a moral deficit or was queer enough that God gave him small wings because God had decided that Steve would fall straight to hell after he died instead, but many who got to know Steve would realize just how false that assumption was.

Then Steve met a scientist who didn’t believe that the size of one’s wings was connected to the strength of one character, and Dr. Erskine was able to make Steve into the first Super Soldier. Inside the chamber, Steve felt his bones stretch, his broken collar and wishbones snapped back into alignment and healed right, which caused Steve to interrupt his scream with a gasp when he heard the pop and came out taller and broader.

His wings, however, remained the same size they were when he was small, if anything his new proportions made the wings comedically tiny like the sketch Steve did in high school.

“Someone put a shirt on him, I’m getting second-hand embarrassment,” Col. Phillips proclaimed, looking at Steve’s small wings tried fluttering, unfortunately, his shoulders blocked any frontal view, making him look even more alien like he didn’t have any wings at all.

Then he made eye contact with Peggy Carter, who’s two-foot wingspan fluttered too, before she held them still, remembering where they were. Steve felt his face flush a little, quietly flattered, and felt his wings stretch and move like he was recovering from a long night’s sleep.

All thoughts of wing fluttering, however, were removed when Erskine was assassinated, and most thoughts of romance were dashed by the war.


	2. The World's Been Burning Since It's Been Turning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were some confusion and a few technical difficulties but I think I've got this posted in the right place.  
> Chapter Title Inspired by "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel

Things didn’t change for Steve all that much after he survived the war and thawed from the ice, only his wings spent most of their time curled up behind his back along his shoulder blades, weighing his back down like his heart was feeling after two weeks awake.

It didn’t take long for Steve to be called into action by Fury, and Steve wiggled into the new uniform ten dollars poorer. Coulson’s new design didn’t have the rough sturdy material from the war but instead felt smooth, soft, and uncomfortably thin, if the thick hard material underneath the uniform hadn’t been present, Steve would have assumed they had just handed him his old USO uniform and told him to go nuts.

But the old familiarity didn’t change how fights worked.

Steve saw Loki standing over the crowd, Loki’s three-foot-wing span spreading intimidatingly, sleek and long, with more feather than a wing but spread out with authority, puffing the lanky man up to look powerful and Steve had seen enough bullies to see such posturing.

“Look to your elder people, let him be the example.”

Steve sprung out of the quinjet and shielded the old man from Loki’s blast, the grim familiarity of the rushing blue light of the tesseract fueled weapons was enough for him to instinctively aim it back at Loki. But instead of disintegrating into thin air, Loki was just knocked off his feet, giving Steve enough time to move forward, the bright flashy colors enough to pull Loki’s attention to him, the more evenly matched Target.

“You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing,” Steve quipped.

“The Soldier, the man who’s out of time.”

“I’m not the one who’s out of time,” Steve said and he stepped aside to let Natasha shoot when Loki dodged, Steve engaged, keeping Loki’s attention on him instead of the dispersing crowd.

The trading blows were familiar, instead of the large swings and weaving Steve had from the alleyways of Brooklyn, Steve felt the efficient dirty moves Peggy taught him, with the intent to take Loki down, powerful kicks and his wings flashing feints, keeping Loki off guard.

But Loki was experienced, and in a few moves, Steve was knocked off his feet and rolling on the ground to regain his footing as he heard it.

Then the sensation of a stranger jamming their thumbs into his ears caused his wings to flair defensively in a way facing Loki never did. Steve’s heartbeat making his own ear canals throb, and then whatever musician, Steve had to assume it was music it was the only way he could explain this phenomenon, training a queen cat in heat to sing in some alien garbled lyrics, the only words he understood but must have been “Shoot to Thrill,” which Steve must have misheard.

Then like an intelligent missile; he arrived, all pomp and circumstance, bringing Steve back to crowded science expo, the smell of peanuts in the air before Steve’s vision cleared and he scrambled to his feet, suddenly understanding that the noise was just another weapon, and diversion meant to intimidate foes and bolster allies. It meant Howard on his occasional drinking binges with Bucky when downtime was long and the war was too much, had finally learned how to harness the power of music into a weapon of war.

No, not Howard, Howard hated direct combat, preferring weapons that ended the fight others fought fast.

Steve still understood enough to scramble to his feet and stand next to Stark.

“Mr. Stark,” Steve greeted.

“Captain,” Stark in his bright red suit, golden poker face, greeted right back.

Steve’s wings fluttered much like they did back in 1943, Steve didn’t pay them any mind.

***  
After the fiasco that was the argument in the lab, and Steve is forced to concede that yes, he had severely misjudged Anthony Edward Stark after the inventor, one of the civilians who weren’t trained to lay down their lives at a moment’s notice for others.

Tony laid on the barbed wire after he made it clear that cutting the wire, finding a more effective solution besides self-sacrifice, was more his style, and Steve tried to goad him into a fight, something he had been kind of itching for since he was thawed in the ice, like a fist fight would have the magical powers to bring him back to 1938 or something to that effect.

Steve resolved to apologize to Tony for his bad behavior.

He would have apologized after shawarma, but the combination of rich calories and battle fatigue lulled Steve to fall asleep in his chair. Tony finished and walked up to go to the bathroom before Steve lost the battle with gravity and fell asleep face first into his half-eaten plate, something Steve would have denied happen, but Clint used his phone, taking up what Steve understood to be inexpensive data space instead of valuable film, to take a picture.

Happy, Tony’s driver had arrived just then to pick Tony up, so Tony never got to see the famous Captain America snoring (Natasha swore there was snoring, something Steve was sure she was making up, he didn’t snore since the serum, but Steve couldn’t good a good reading on her muscle twitches in her elegant red wings) into his tzatziki sauce and pita bread.

Or Thor the God of Thunder trying to pick him up, causing Steve to startle awake. Thor caught Steve’s startled fist, his own golden eagle wings fluttering in approval.

So, Steve picked out his most humble outfit, a pair of khaki, suspenders on a pale grey shirt, and he may have gotten up early to polish his brown shoes instead of his black ones and prepared a speech.

Steve could imagine Peggy’s disapproval at Steve picking on Tony, as Steve was technically supposed to be the older man, and Steve, after much struggling to try to imagine Howard as a father, simply assumed that all fathers would talk like Mr. Barnes.

Steve walked to Stark Tower, where he knew Tony would be staying, and composed mentally a speech about how Howard would have likely disapproved of Steve’s behavior to Tony, and admit that he, Steven Grant Rogers, owed Tony his deepest apologies.

“Do you have an appointment with Mr. Stark?” The receptionist asked Steve, and he realized that he must have misstepped.

“No,” Steve began, and the receptionist gave him an unimpressed look, “But I’d like to make an appointment when I could see him.”

The receptionist looked unimpressed, and Steve prepared to leave before she called security before Steve heard his name.

“Steve, just the man I wanted to see! How was the drive?” Tony breezed in from an elevator as if Tony had been summoned magically when Steve entered the building and took the elevator down while Steve waited in line to talk to the receptionist. Behind him was a burly man holding a bunch of lanyards, and after quickly inspecting him, and his ID (which Steve as thankful SHEILD had finally gotten around to giving him a copy of his driver’s license, a new invention, and motivation for Steve to learn to drive, if he could ever make the time), before the man, who Steve recognized as Happy, Tony’s chauffeur.

Happy grunted and past Steve a lanyard before Tony tried to wave him off and herd Steve into the elevator so they could talk.

“I walked here,” Steve finally answered and before he could begin his rehearsed apology, Tony opened his mouth to speak again.

“Anyway, I’ve been making improvements on this as you mentioned it ‘ugly looking tower’ after our resident Draco Malfoy tried his hand on world domination, and his big brother had to take him home with the tesseract,” Tony began quickly but clearly, as if he had a lifetime of practice sharing complicated ideas quickly, “and I thought it might make for a useful meeting place, but I’ve also got some property upstate that we could use to make for a training facility if that’s something that might work better for the Avengers, after all, we might meet up on occasion to save the world, and that means establishing a base of operations, and as the leader of our motley crew I thought I’d ask you a few questions while you’re here.”

Steve was rather impressed that Tony managed to say all that in one breath and was still clearly understood. But Steve still had to apologize.

“Of course, but first I have something I need to say,” Steve pressed, and the elevator door dinged and swung open, with a smooth velvety voice spoke up.

“Welcome back to the private quarter's sir, your presentation is on screen now, and Ms. Potts will arrive shortly.” The voice said.

“Thank you, Jarvis,” Tony called out before he dragged Steve over to some hovering screens.

Steve approved of three separate sets of blueprints before Tony slowly ran out of steam.

“So, I also had another reason for coming here,” Steve began, but Tony shifted uncomfortably, and Steve had a feeling he had to apologize now, but his speech had been imploded by the presence of Tony’s sheer personality, but Steve didn’t make it to captain, earning the title for real, without being adaptable.

Steve opened his mouth to apologize before something shiny caught his eyes, Tony’s wings, which had been flapping enthusiastically, but instead of being made of keratin, or unusually thick hairs that split to look like bird feathers, were flat and almost shiny and metallic.

Steve didn’t ask and tried not to put much attention on the prosthetic wings.

“Tony, about what I said on the helicarrier,” Steve began.

“The past’s in the past Cap,” Tony tried to brush off, but Steve resolved to finish.

“No, I have to say this, Tony, I was wrong about you, I was very wrong, you do put the well being of others before your own, and you are a good man, I was just slow on the uptake, comparing you to dead men, which isn’t fair to you or to Bucky. I owe you a major apology, and Tony, I’m sorry,” Steve urged.

Tony was blown away, and Steve became very aware that while many things had changed, apparently how men treated each other hadn’t changed that much or else they would appear weak and feminine. But Steve wasn’t here to look weak, he was here to be a good man, and Tony seemed to accept Steve’s maturity.

“Apology accepted Steve, and for the record, I’m sorry I claimed that you were only special because you were a science experiment, I was wrong too.”

And that was that.

Steve felt a little bit of relief that he had rose a little in Tony’s esteem, something that Steve felt like he had earned since waking up from the ice.

“Sir, Ms. Potts is here.”

“Steve, I want to you meet my girlfriend Pepper,” Tony began eagerly, and Steve turned to see a tall redheaded woman in a well-tailored business suit and high heels walking with confidence and authority.

Steve’s wings sagged a little, but Steve knew he should be happy that Tony had someone.


	3. It’s Too Late To Fight, It's Too Late to Change Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> his Chapter's Title is Inspired by "You May Be Right" by Billy Joel. Fun fact, all of Steve's failed dates were based on real dates I went on during my early twenties (and some recently and a strong reason why I stopped dating period).

It took even longer for Steve to accept that he had a crush on Tony, maybe it had started when Steve started traveling across the country to get his bearings in this new century, and he called his teammates to touch bases with them or even some guidance on how to survive in the modern world.

Natasha was quickly becoming a fast friend for Steve, and Clint was fun for some unique quips and apparently directed Steve to a weirdly excellent pancake house in Iowa. Bruce was the guy to call when Steve needed to be somewhere tranquil when the war of the past started causing noise in his mind, which Steve appreciated, and Bruce was happy to pass on breathing techniques that kept the other guy in check.

But the one who helped with technology the most was Tony.

Steve quickly figured out how to use the internet, drive a car, how to use the internet to fix that car, how to get his phone to access both the phone lines and internet without calling an operator, all with Tony’s help.

Mostly Tony’s help revolved around learning how to navigate the internet without picking up a nasty virus or a phishing email, Steve managed to figure out modern technology alone and managed to change his own oil and fix his motorbike’s radiator while casually chatting to Natasha over Skype on his own.

Steve was so proud of himself.

“What was that?” Steve asked Natasha, and she rolled her eyes over the screen, Steve tried to make eye contact with the camera as Steve realized when he used Skype he often caught himself staring at his own reflection, and Natasha’s face.

“I said I have a solution to that crush of yours,” Natasha repeated herself firmly.

“What crush?” Steve denied instantly, he looked at the screen where Natasha’s unimpressed face stared back.

“The Crush with They-who-we-can’t-name, apparently, but I wanted to let you know that I know someone whose single and looking and I think you two might get along,” Natasha insisted.

Steve, deciding that crushing on a man in a prolonged dwelling on emotions might not be the unhealthiest methods, so he decided to take a chance.

***

Steve would admit years later that he’s grown to love Natasha Romanoff as his weirdly lethal but extremely efficient little sister.

Natasha was many wonderful things, a brilliant agent, an amazing fighter, a wonderful friend, and a cunning spy who had undergone such training, that her wings were hard to read as she could fake emotion and mask it unless she was truly relaxed with people she trusted with true vulnerability, something Steve took a few years to earn that status and would keep those moments in his truest confidence.

Moments like when Steve decided to call it quits after a long string of disastrous bad dates.

“Are you serious? That happened in the middle of the restaurant?” Natasha asked aghast, her wings sincerely flaring up, wings held out stiff and feathers outstretched as if she could ward off Steve’s bad date and protect them both from disaster.

Steve’s own wings curled up tightly against his shoulder blades as he nodded grimly as he finished his story, “In graphic, anatomical detail, about how she wanted me to help her repopulate the earth after the apocalypse that’s apparently supposed to happen this December. She was adamant that there’d be zombies, so I guess to make sure you don’t get bitten.”

He took a fortifying swig of water and went back to punching the punching bags in old well-practiced drills.

Natasha pursed her lips, her wings tucking themselves in as she kicked her own bag in efficient and powerful blows for a few moments, her mind whirling for a few moments. “I had no idea that was a thing, let alone hers…”

“Would it really be something she’d share with someone she didn’t intend to have sex with?” Steve asked sadly, giving his bag a one-two jab, feeling his wings shift a little shift his center of gravity for better balance.

“I could try again Steve,” Natasha offered, and Steve smiled softly when he saw how sincere she was.

“Thanks, but I think I’m good, otherwise I might be given a random sex toy again,” Steve teased.

“That only happened once because you were naïve enough to go to her apartment to look at her ‘stamp collection’,” Natasha countered.

“Or one who thought a cemetery full of crying people was an appropriate place to make out… or that time you and Clint tried to take me to the club and that random woman stuck her face into my chest and nuzzled it.”

“That wasn’t our fault!” Natasha defended, “But you made sure she got home safely I remember.”

“Don’t forget about the one who brought her mother along with her!” Clint pipped up from the ceiling before he shot an arrow into a tiny obscure target.

“I thought she was there to chaperone, but nope. One minute she’s asking asked about my medical history and told my date that I ‘was not the physical peak specimen for grandchildren, my small wings were a big enough indication’,” Steve continued.

“Fuck that lady, need me to track her down?” Natasha asked. Steve shook his head, he was eager to move past it to be honest.

“Or that second amendment nut who knew how much force was needed to sever the femur of a fleeing opponent,” Clint added.

“You said to try bars, remember?” Steve grumbled.

“Not that kind of bars!” Clint protested his wings flapping in emphasis.

“If you’re looking for someone to hook up with Steve, not likely you strike me as the commitment, marriage, then sex kind of guy—I have some better suggestions, but first where are you finding these women? Online?”

Steve turned around, and to his surprise, Tony approached the boxing ring, where his chauffeur Happy ready to box with him. Happy gently taping his wings down to prevent them from getting hurt.

“Some of them,” Steve admitted, and Steve had a strong feeling that Tony could read his tired emotions but didn’t comment anymore on it.

“You’re talking to the wrong person Capscicle, I’d recommend you talk to Rhodey, I think he’d be a better source of advice,” Tony shrugged and began his own training.

***

Rhodey apparently had some time off in the next week, so Tony invited Steve to join them for coffee and brunch at Stark Tower. Pepper was with them, and she and Tony were quietly bickering over something, but Steve could see the affectionate smiles, and couldn’t spend much time looking at them without worrying that his wings would betray his emotions.

Steve slowly recounted the whole dating debacle to Rhodey, who held his wings out slightly in a pensive fashion before he spoke.

“I bet dating isn’t like what it was back in the good-old-days, huh?” Rhodey asked.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Steve shrugged, remembering some of the looks he got when people looked at his wings, and occasionally he’d overhear the quotes that small wings meant small genitalia, and Steve wasn’t interested in reliving those days.

“Are you interested in some advice?” Rhodey offered, and Steve nodded. “Take a break from dating, you’ve been out of the ice for what, six months?”

“Seven,” Steve confirmed.

“Definitely take a break, if you’re interested later, the dating scene will still be here when you’re ready.”

Steve nodded, and Pepper’s phone began to ring, causing her to leave the conversation, and get back to work. Tony sighed when she left and looked strangely tired.

Then Steve remembered one thing, something he hoped was genetic.

“So, any new exciting upgrades to Ironman, or this War Machine suits?” Steve asked.

Tony lit up in excitement, and in seconds pulled up nine different schematics, and Steve got to help stress test three different prototypes with Rhodey while Tony gleefully collected data.

Steve had grown to be impressed with how efficiently Tony could make those upgrades, which Steve assumed had to do with new technology making the entire process more efficient, allowing Tony to make as many new suits as frequently as he did.

Steve knew if Howard tried to make as many prototypes at this rate in the forties, Howard would have had to forgo sleep entirely and had several more lab assistance than he ever did.

Not that Steve would tell Tony this mental connection, even if it was meant to compliment Tony, Steve took some time researching his old friend’s life as part of the grieving process, and read between the lines enough to realize Tony and Howard must have had a difficult relationship, the kind Tony would be better off not being reminded of, which Tony was good at as he’d rather keep moving forward in ways Steve saw the value of, even if there were moments where Steve was keen to look back in the past to strengthen and guide for a better tomorrow.


	4. Once I Thought My Innocence Was Gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Chapter inspired by "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel

Steve’s first Holidays out if the ice started when a member of his Strike team, Myers, asked Steve if he’d be willing to switch shifts so Myers would be home for Christmas, Steve agreed, and he agreed to take the shift even harder when Myers took Steve’s assent as an invitation to talk about how horrible and controlling his wife was almost comical.

Steve’s wings cramped from trying to control his irritated flutters.

The mission wasn’t that big a deal, and he came back to the United States to find out about the terroristic threats, and Tony’s Malibu Mansion reduced to rubble.

Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper got out relatively unscathed, and Steve visited Happy in the Hospital and wrote down “Downton Abby” on his list he was slowly building up.

The New Year heralded new friendships when Steve picked up a running partner named Sam, and the end of relationships when Steve got a text from Happy, asking for help on Steve’s weekend off.

***

Steve received the text early one Thursday morning while he and Sam were finishing their laps around DC.

Sam was panting, but before Steve could check on him, Sam gestured to Steve’s phone using his slender black sharp falcon shaped wings emphasized Sam’s pointing before flapping to direct jets of air down his overheated body to cool off.

“I think the Avengers need to be assembled.” Sam answered, and Steve pulled out his small sleek SHIELD issue phone to see the text going “Steve, I would like some help, could you please come to Stark tower this Saturday—Happy.”

Sam, assuming it was classified no doubt, or just as likely wanting to respect Steve’s privacy, simply started people watching, DC slowly presenting a city coming awake, even if parts of the town had likely already been awake, to begin with.

Steve felt a tug of appreciation for Sam before he answered the text.

“Sure, I’ll b there, time?” Steve sent.

Happy sent “Okay, you’ll need to pick up Tony at four am, I’ll have the gear and directions ready”, and Steve began to contact Natasha and Hill to let them know he’d be unavailable this Saturday, and judging from the early hour, Steve had a feeling this was an emergency.

Why else would Steve have to pick up Tony in New York City at four am?

***

Steve arrived Friday night and contacted Happy to let him know he was here when he landed, Happy picked him up at the airport and Happy drove Steve straight to Stark Tower.

“So, what’s the emergency Happy?” Steve asked from the passenger side door, sitting in the front with Happy so they could have a normal conversation instead of from the back as if Happy were some sort of cab driver.

“Tony and Pepper broke up, and both are miserable because of it,” Happy explained, he looked saddened, and Steve wings fluttered a little in both sympathies, and because Tony was mentioned. Steve pressed his back a little more uncomfortably into his seat to stop them from reacting to the news, Steve might fancy Tony, but he was not about to take joy in what was clearly two people’s pain.

Happy kept his eyes on the road, his own wings were curled up while he was driving and thus in professional mode.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Steve asked uncertainly when he was young, all the broken hearts went to Bucky for comfort, not him.

“Pepper liked hiking, but she hated watercraft, and Tony’s father never took him fishing, so I thought that might be something you guys could do while Tony has something out of the ordinary to distract him,” Happy explained.

“Fishing?” Steve asked, the little city punk from Brooklyn balked at the idea, as all the fishing Steve did was during the war, and it certainly wasn’t relaxing, more like a rush to grab some food and stretch out rations while they waited for Hydra to fall into their traps without starving to death, and Steve was very sure using explosives weren’t allowed here.

“The gear is already packed and loaded in one of the trucks I rented, I doubt any of Tony’s cars are going to make the journey, and you guys can have fun on the lake, fishing, talking, crying if you need to, and it’s remote enough no one will notice you guys,” Happy added, giving Steve a pen and paper map and compass, which Steve appreciated, even if he was already comfortable using a GPS.

Steve examined the map and looked at the small lake that Happy had circled, as well as the route highlighted in bright yellow.

He could do this, even if he had no idea what to do with the gear, and Steve doubted he’d get internet on the middle of the lake, not without asking Tony for help anyway.

Steve looked at the fishing lines, hooks, and bait, and tried to look up fishing tutorials for a bit, which baffled Steve for a bit because he didn’t see any “Flies” but he guessed he might have gotten the casting right, before forcing himself to go to bed.

Thankfully Steve didn’t need to wake up Tony.

“Happy, I’ll be fine, it’s not like Steve’s going to be up for fishing,” Tony protested, and from the way he was dressed, Steve realized that Tony had spent the whole night awake and in the lab.

Steve opened the door and came out wearing the flannel shirt he found in the gear Happy found, which was a little tight in the chest, but Steve managed to wiggle into it without a problem.

“Are we ready to go?” He asked opening the door, and Steve saw Tony’s wings flair and flap in surprised before he pulled his artificial wings back to his body in an attempt to look cool.

“Yep,” Happy insisted, and Steve grinned before he and Tony were on the road, Steve downing the coffee so to be more alert, he had no idea how to fish without a stick of dynamite or having Dernier coach Steve though the whole process.

Steve drove for a bit, with the radio playing music, like some weird love ballad about some man nursing feelings for a high-class lady, and Tony soon fell asleep in his seat as Steve drove.

Tony dozed awake by the time they arrived at the lake, and the little rental boat was waiting for them. The sun started rising over the heights of the trees, causing shadows to cast over the whole lake, but by midmorning, they would have likely retreated to the shelter of the forest.

Steve and Tony had the boat loaded and launched within minutes they were floating in the middle where the water was a blue from the depth, and slightly green from the phytoplankton, submerged logs loomed in and out of vision like great leviathans of the deep.

The two men sat on the boat in awkward silence before Tony spoke up.

“Of course, Happy would pick fishing,” He muttered, but pulled out the bait box, tied a hook on to the line, stuck what looked like a rainbow-colored bit of putty on the end before casting it in perfect practiced motion into the water where the line moved out for a while before it stopped, “it’s the one thing I told him I liked about my childhood, and its low stress enough that it won’t affect my surgical wounds.”

“You’ve fished before?” Steve asked slowly, Steve already knew about Tony’s heart surgery, and had noticed the lack of alcohol in the stuff they packed, and Tony didn’t bring any either, so Steve supposed he might have still been on medication for it.

“Yeah, I did every summer with my butler, JARVIS’s namesake, when I was a kid, I looked forward to it every year, and Dad would always be out of the country, sometimes Mom with him, and Jarvis would simply surprise me with laying the fishing gear in the foyer when I got home from school,” Tony said fondly, “sometimes Ana would join us too, but she preferred to stay home and prepare the trout we caught for dinner.”

“Ana?” Steve was curious, and realizing how much Tony was sharing with him, and how valuable that was.

“Jarvis’s wife and she watched me a lot when I was young, many times it was just her and Aunt Peggy when Mom was out. Ah man, I remember when Aunt Peggy taught me how to smuggle stuff into movie theaters with a needle, thread, and really subtle pockets, saw the first Star Wars movie with M& Ms and licorice hidden up my pant leg on my seventh birthday, and man were Ana and Jarvis disappointed that we did it.”

Steve noticed Tony’s wings, although slow to respond, started shifting and fluttering happily in remanence in happy childhood memories.

Steve tried to make a square knot on the hook, with the line and was about to cast when Tony stopped him.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?” Tony asked.

“Casting off?” Steve answered uncertainly, he felt his wings retract on to his back when he felt more uncertain.

“Well if you were fly-fishing that would be a good way to go about it, but you haven’t lifted the reel spinner, baited the hook.”

Steve took a deep breath, but tilted his body to better face Tony, “Show me.”

Tony lit up when he realized he was the expert here, but that Steve was his willing student, and wished to learn.

“Okay well first problem here is the knot, this knot is good for tying two pieces of rope together, but it’s crap for fishing, you’ll want to try a knot like this instead, it’ll tighten the harder the fish pulls on the hook,” Tony began, showing Steve how to fish with power bait and a rod and tackle.

“Where did you learn to fish Cap?” Tony asked when he coached Steve on the other casting method, and Steve shrugged.

“In Nazi Germany with a stick of dynamite and a squad of starving Allies Troops, Dernier taught us how,” Steve explained, remembering how big the blast of water, and he and his men’s eagerness to scoop up the dead fish for a meal, something Steve doubted would wind up in the history books, because Steve got stuck in the mud three times knee deep in scummy water with dead fish in his arms, and the idea of killing fish with explosives likely was a big no-no for his image.

They sat in silence for a while, waiting for the fish to bite, and predictably Tony got the first bite, and he set the hook and pulled up a foot-long bass.

Steve supposed if this was a work of fiction, he would then get a comedically tiny fish to juxtapose the large bass that Tony caught, but instead he was granted the surprising two for one deal when the fish Steve pulled into the boat proceeded to vomit out a slightly smaller fish that appeared to be the fish Steve had hooked, but Steve suddenly wasn’t sure, for all he knew there could be a third fish inside, and Tony simply laughed at Steve’s expression of horror.

“Don’t laugh, look at the size of this fucking thing, it’d be like if I swallowed you whole!” Steve protested, then realized what he just said.

Tony’s simple laughter, proceeded to morph in to deeper guffaws at Steve’s expense, and Steve turned red as his wings fluttered at his embarrassment.

Steve kind of wished that he’d be struck by lightning, or better yet, have Thor make an entrance, a flashy enternece with the Bifrost and some lightning would be just the thing to distract Tony from Steve’s plight, but alas, lightning or Thor God-of-Thunder, didn’t work that way.

***

The Sun began to set when Steve and Tony finished packing up, and Tony took charge of the car this time, ready for the drive back.

Steve was over the embarrassment of the innuendo, and his fish and Tony’s fish were safely packed in the cooler, the only fish they caught that day, Tony supposed it was because they weren’t using the correct techniques to catch more bass fish, but Steve wasn’t sure.

They were quiet, enjoying the drive, but the day on the lake only served as a distraction from the reality they were driving back two.

It appeared to be on Tony’s mind because eventually he brought up the subject himself.

“Pepper’s not a bad person, I guess I was just too high maintenance for her,” Tony began.

Steve stayed quiet, judging that this was something Tony needed to get off his chest first, but he nodded for Tony to continue.

“I mean, she was targeted and put in life threatening danger just because it was well known that we were dating, but she’s so kind, patient, and was more than willing to cut though bullshit to accomplish her goals, even if that meant getting me to a meeting on time or having to do projects I didn’t want to do because that’s what the company needed,” Tony said, eyes never leaving the road, “I just want her to be happy, you know, even if it’s not with me.”

Steve nodded.

“I just wish that my desire to go out with her didn’t ruin our friendship,” Tony choked.

Steve had to stop him right there, Tony had gone past venting, and had moved on to a negative spiral of self-blame and self-depreciation which would not have done him any good. Steve was bad at recognizing it within himself, but it was Clint of all people who got good at calling Steve out on this, often with a sarcastic quip and next thing Steve knew, he was eating pizza and playing fetch with a one-eyed rescue dog named Lucky.

“Sometimes people just aren’t a perfect fit for one another, they can be a good fit, but may just be better off as friends, and given time, their friendship will recover from a break up relationship,” Steve offered gently.

“Talking from personal experience Cap?” Tony asked bitterly.

“Sort of, but that was Bucky’s expertise, he had a girl he was really sweet on when we were teenagers, spent four dollars trying to win a stuffed bear to impress her at Coney Island, Dot was impressed with the bear, but less impressed when she realized that meant we had to ride home on the back of an ice truck because he spent our train money on that bear.”

Steve stared at the road in recollection, “They broke up a few months later, and he was devastated, the saddest I saw him, and to my surprise, Dot still talked to him, and they repaired their friendship, I had assumed they had started dating again when Bucky started a series of double dates with me, her, and a female friend of hers, and it wasn’t until Bucky got shot in the leg at one point in the war that he confessed to me that he and Dot were just friends, and she preferred the company of women, and our double dates were so she and her girlfriend could go out without getting harassed.”

“What happened?” Tony asked.

“I carried him to the medic who patched him up, and said ‘well that explains a lot, wish you would have told me before I made an ass of myself’.”

“Well, did you?”

“Not really, but I spent the whole time under a bunch of assumptions. I just wish you would have met Bucky, he was a really great guy,” Steve said, pushing down the memory of Bucky’s last moment on earth, and his haunting scream as he fell.

Steve was pulled out his recollection of Bucky when he realized Tony had turned on the radio, the artist from earlier was singing about how something hadn’t for a longest time, and how happiness goes on.

Steve glanced at Tony in gratitude, and Tony looked away, looking almost bashful at his kind deed.

“You’ll find happiness again Tony, and when you’re ready, we’re here for you.” Steve continued.

“Thanks, Cap.”

They drove to Stark Tower and made it before it got too dark, and the tower was empty when they unloaded the gear, and Tony instructed Steve though Ana Jarvis’s recipe for fried fish, Steve ate both of his fish, though he observed that his second fish had gotten eaten twice, and observation he voiced aloud much to Tony’s amusement.

Steve did the dishes, and Tony, worn down by the events for the day actually went to bed. Steve noticing, he was still in the flannel shirt, changed in to his outfit from Friday, and was about to leave when he heard Tony grunt in his sleep, Steve fighting the urge to check on the very likely deeply asleep grown-ass man, and then Steve recalled Tony’s kindness, and how he sounded when he laughed, and Steve felt his wings flutter a little harder. Steve rushed forward and shut the door to the elevator and shut his eyes to keep them from burning, took a deep breath.

His crush on Tony grew a little stronger during the day, and he was doomed.

“Oh, fuck me,” He muttered.

“Uh, okay, if that’s what you really want, but I think you’re more interested in Tony.” Clint said from somewhere to Steve’s left.

Steve opened his eyes, and sure enough, right next to him, standing confusedly at the buttons, which Steve somehow, to his embarrassment, managed to miss, was Hawkeye.

“Clint, no, Tony deserves better than a rebound,” Steve insisted. “And I doubt I’m his type.”

“Okay, you know best Cap,” Clint shrugged, “but make sure you take care of yourself, because we care about you too. Don’t worry, Tony won’t hear anything from me.”

“Thanks, Clint.” Steve said, and the elevator stopped at Clint’s floor, allowing Clint to get off, and for Steve to decide that spending the night at the Tower would at least be the least suspicious thing he could do before he drove to DC in the morning to report for work.


	5. Tell Him Everything You Feel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title inspired by "Tell Her About It" By Billy Joel, and we've reached the end of the story, next up the epilogue and we find out what happened instead of Civil War and Infinity War.

The lovely thing about work is it’s easy to work one’s self into a rhythm, and emotions have no place in one’s workplace, especially when one worked in a place like SHIELD.

Steve managed to give some space for Tony to heal, and in return, Tony and Steve exchanged friendly phone calls and, on the occasion, email, which Steve felt warm and bubbly about, but made it harder to quash his crush during downtime.

His wings kept fluttering for months after the fishing trip, even when Tony kept denying to Steve about the rumored relationship between him and Pepper the tabloids kept trying to push. Tony simply told Steve that he was taking a leaf out of Bucky’s book, acting as a shield so Pepper could get the peace she needed.

“Honestly, she’s started dating Happy, and weirdly I’m feeling relieved about it,” Tony confessed over the phone several months after the emotions of the break up died down. The sincerity made Steve’s heart, and wings flutter. “I guess you were right, we were a good fit, but not a great fit, and that made all the difference.”

“How’s everything else, had Dum-E earned his associates yet?”

“You know that’s not, --No U, not you, yes, yes I love you too, damned robot—anyway Steve, that’s not what that threat means and you know it,” Tony was most likely rolling his eyes over the phone.

“Hey, you’re the one who keeps threatening to send him to community college, he might as well enjoy the education that comes with it,” Steve pointed out with a snicker.

“Laugh it up, Steve,” Tony snickered back.

“Tell Dum-e that I believe in him! And if he needs a tutor in history I’d be happy to help!” Steve continued because he’s a little shit like that.

“You’re on speakerphone, Steve.”

“Excellent, and U, Butterfingers, same applies to you.”

“And this is how humanity succumbs to their robot overlords because Captain America thought they should get their college degrees.” Tony giggled, and it sounded like he was affectionately patting one of his bots.

“Well if it’s anything like that one short story, we’d probably be lead to a golden age where none of the humans are the wiser if JARVIS was in charge.”

Tony snorted, and JARVIS spoke up, “While I am flattered that Captain Rogers thinks that I would be a benevolent overlord, I feel I must decline, as caring for Sir and protecting the Earth by his side is enough responsibility for me.”

“Let’s change the subject before we do something stupid like create an evil robot megalomaniac AI or something, I’ve read science fiction too, Steve.” Steve could hear Tony roll his eyes while he said that. “Speaking of AIs, have I told you about my latest coding project?”

“No,” Steve answered, suddenly interested.

“Well for projects that JARVIS might be too busy to do himself, I thought I'd make him a little assistant, I’m calling her FRIDAY, and she was kind of inspired by Pepper and Natasha.”

“Friday? Like Girl Friday?” Steve asked a little weirded out by the casual sexism behind it.

“No, god no, no her name comes from a Beatles song because I wanted to make a reference to my mom and Ana, the Beatles were the guilty pleasure they shared, and my first introduction to Rock and Roll,” Tony explained, then he paused “And do your self a favor and listen to ‘Lady Madonna’ by the Beatles, there’s a lyric that goes ‘Friday arrives without a suitcase,’ kind of like Aunt Peggy, but Aunt Peggy was a Queen fan for some reason, but I thought was fitting for a little AI.”

“Queen of where?" Steve asked innocently. "Oh, wait, I know this one-- is this that lady who married the King of Monaco, right?” He had the Beatles on his list already, and he already heard Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio once with Sam there to explain to him about the band.

“Ha, you’re going to get up pretty early to pull that over me, Captain Troll,” Tony laughed.

Steve’s phone buzzed and Steve pulled his phone away from his ear to look at the notification that flashed across his screen.

“Tony, I need to go,” Steve told him, “Duty calls.” And then Steve hung up after Tony gave the usual pleasantries.

Natasha was waiting for him, and Steve had no idea what was waiting for him after the Leumarian Star.

***

Steve woke up in the hospital after stopping Hydra and falling off one of the Insight Helicarriers, with Bucky, much to Steve’s horror and amazement, pulling him out of the river and to safety, complete with a bullet wound in Steve’s leg.

He woke up hearing the Trouble Man soundtrack, and Sam by his side, thankful to see Sam made it out okay.

“On your left,” He croaked, and Sam grinned in relief.

Sam filled Steve in on what happened while he was out, from how many arrests were made for their connections to Hydra and there for mass murder and treason, to how some of the other Avengers leapt out of the woodwork to help mop up what happened to Hydra while Natasha was being questioned by a Senate committee, and how it’ll soon be Steve’s turn soon.

Steve nodded tiredly.

“You’re going after him, aren’t you?” Sam asked, and Steve didn’t need to say who Sam was referring too.

Steve nodded, “I’ve got to, Buck could have been the only person to pull me out of the river, he’s still in there.”

Sam sat pensively, but Steve had a feeling he had another friend helping him while he looked for Bucky.

Then a shadow, followed by the faint scent of motor oil, coffee and spinach wafted in and Steve looked up to see a rather tired looking Tony, who carried in a tray of three coffees, his artificial wings slumped down his back like a limp cloak.

“Tony?” Steve asked, his voice thankfully didn’t creak.

“Hey Cap looks like you might need more beauty rest, those bruises look kind of gnarly.”

Steve snickered weakly.

“Your coffee, Captain Falcon,” Tony said as he handed Sam his coffee, and Sam grinned, “and the offer for better wings are still on the table.”

“Sounds great,” Sam added.

Steve grinned, and his phone buzzed, he glanced at it after Tony handed it to him from the table.

“Looks like we’ve got a funeral to attend.” Steve sighed.

After attending Fury’s “funeral”, Tony took them to a doughnut shop where they stared at the file Natasha had handed Steve, Sam sipping his coffee while Steve kept the folder closed, not sure he wanted to look at the torture his best friend, almost his brother, had undergone because he, Steve, failed to find him when he was at his most vulnerable. The folder sat on the table top like it was some giant hairy spider waiting to strike, and Steve wasn’t sure he wanted to put his hand anywhere within striking distance.

“What do you keep staring at Cap?” Tony asked.

“Something I asked Natasha to get for me, but I don’t want to talk about it,” Steve answered.

Tony nodded pensively before his phone buzzed.

“JARVIS?” Tony asked before he nodded. “And FRIDAY found all that?”

Steve noticed Tony’s wings sagged a little and his free hand brushed against his chest where the arc reactor used to sit before Tony shuddered.

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

“What’s going on?” Steve asked.

Sam looked worriedly at Tony.

“Looks like Hydra got some of their tentacles on some Stark stuff, I’ve got to call Pepper and we need to clean house, but Pepper will be happy with how well FRIDAY’s been a big help, I think I’ll give her to Pepper, as I can never replace JARVIS,” Tony explained, “Do you guys think you can track down Cap’s favorite cyborg without me?”

“I think I can take over for you,” Sam smirked, and Tony grinned.

“You, I like, give me a call when I’m done spring cleaning, I might replace those flying wings without worrying about hurting your real ones.”

“Sounds like a done deal,” Sam shook Tony’s hand, and Tony left the shop, a hefty tab paid off in advance so Steve could grab a few extra doughnuts before they could leave.

Steve didn’t put much thought into Tony’s urgent project until he and Sam were a few days into their search for Bucky when Tony gave them a call.

“Well, it looks like Hydra did more than infiltrate Stark Industries,” Tony said over the phone in disgust. “I found a POW that they tortured for years, something I wish we didn’t have in common, and oh yeah, they sent this guy to murder my parents, that car accident I assumed happen to them for years? Yeah, that was no accident.”

“Where is he now? Did he really kill Howard?” Steve asked, oh god, Tony found Bucky, and had a good reason to hate him, or kill him!

“Relax Captain, your boy toy’s safe, and currently clearing my kitchen of fruit—Hey! Watch it! —Sorry for some reason he really doesn’t like bananas, and now Butterfingers is trying to pick up the banana spray.”

“Why are you helping him if he’s hurt you so badly?” Steve asked. Sam pulled over and was watching Steve intently.

“Well at first, I was extremely upset, so when JARVIS found him outside of some museum, I tracked him down, but during the flight over I got a chance to cool down, and well, it’s getting close to Yinsen’s…. so I was reminded of the doctor mentor I had, you had Erskine, I had Yinsen, and I don’t think Yinsen would approve of me murdering the guy who in his right mind would volunteer to be his ex-girlfriend’s beard, or be the guy who befriended and defended a little punk who’d pick a fight against the world. Also, he was looking so damn pathetic that killing him would just be evil and seeing as he’s got more cause to sue Hydra than I would, Pepper’s calling a lawyer for him, I think you’ll like her, and JARVIS is calling for a Therapist who specializes in deprogramming brainwashing. Cap? Are you crying?”

“No,” Steve croaked, wiping tears off his cheeks, and Sam was signing “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Steve told both in a watery voice. “Tony, I could kiss you.”

“Whoa there, Cap, I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean that,” Tony said nervously.

“No, I do,” Steve admitted to himself. Damn it, he had fallen for a straight man, but Tony was such a good man that Steve didn’t mind knowing that he’s signed himself up to die alone with a herd of cats as company in his twilight years.

“Well, you guys can come to pick Bucky up at the Tower, I’ll make sure you guys have your floors open.”

***

They arrived at Stark Tower pretty quickly, but that might have been because Steve was too damn excited to care.

They arrived, took the elevator to the penthouse, and was greeted by the sight of Tony playing Snow White on a big screen, and Bucky in some oversized sweats with Iron Man on the front with Stark EXPO 2010 printed on. His hair was recently washed and pulled back into a bun, and he glanced at Steve tiredly but seemed to relax fully only when Tony did.

And Steve could only be more grateful to Tony.

“Well Pepper’s in Malibu, but she’s managed to get Buckaroo here the number of a lawyer, and we’ll see her on Monday,” Tony shrugged and Bucky went back to watching the movie, which was full of Snow White cleaning a house with a bunch of forest animals while singing “Whistle While You Work”. Steve could see Bucky fully relaxing, and Sam gingerly took a seat next to Bucky, who, apparently recognizing Sam, scooted over, but watched Sam warily until Sam fully relaxed, causing Bucky to follow.

“Can we talk in private Cap? I’ve got a few questions, and I don’t want to disturb our cowboy buddy and his feathered friend,” Tony asked quietly, and Steve followed him into the hall.

“So, about that kissing comment,” Tony began, and Steve could see he was about to be rejected, but at least Tony gave him the dignity of being let down in private.

“I meant what I said,” Steve said, “But if you don’t feel that way, I understand.”

“Feel what way? Like you’re the kindest, noblest, and bravest man I know?” Tony asked, “You’re also insanely hot, and you have to wear shirts that are a few sizes too small on purpose because it’s just not fair to have someone like you look so good and be as straight as you are…”

“What do you mean ‘Straight?’” Steve asked bewilderedly. His wings were going haywire from all the emotions he was feeling.

“Aren’t you? Dad could swear you had a thing for Aunt Peggy,” Tony asked and Steve could hear a few notes of hope in there.

“I’m bi Tony, I’ve always been bi, just didn’t think it was relevant to talk about, yes Peggy and I could have been a thing, but due to circumstances we just weren’t meant to be, much like you and Pepper.”

“So, am I, bi I mean, so you mean all this time… Hey, what’s going on with your wings?” Tony asked.

Then Steve looked over his shoulders, his wings were just the same as they had ever been, but it seems Tony had just noticed them.

Steve leaned forward, his mouth parted openly, and he was about to pull back thinking he misjudged Tony when Tony captured his mouth.

Steve deepened the kiss and pressed Tony against the wall, and as a result Tony wrapped his arms around Steve, gently stroking his feathers along the back of his rapidly fluttering wings, the prosthetic wings fluttering along the wall.

“It’s about time those started working right,” Tony rolled his eyes, “Look like I’ll have to put that in the next prototype.”

Steve captured Tony’s lip again, daring to hope it’s not a dream, and that his days of pining were long gone.

Speaking of Pine…

“Getting a little excited there, Cap?” Tony teased.

“Shut up,” Steve blushed, and Tony giggled.

“You’re cute when you blush, and I’d be happy to take care of it, Happy’s with Pepper and Snow White can babysit everyone else.”

“They’re adults Tony, they can babysit themselves,” Steve grumbled, but he let Tony pull him into Tony’s room, where Steve stripped Tony, and Tony pulled off Steve’s clothing.

“Damn, whoever said that guys with small wings had small dicks is a goddamn idiot.” Tony whistled in awe, and with a smirk threw himself on to the bed, giving Steve his best come whither stare, and Steve after roughly over two years of pining, crawled after him.


	6. When My Ship Comes In, He’ll Understand What Kind of Guy I Am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title of the Fic and this Chapter is from “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel, which I felt fit this entire fic. Of course, there were a few requests and prompts that my giftee mentioned they liked, so I decided to cram them into the epilogue XD.  
> Thank you for joining me on this fantastic adventure.

The next four years had been wonderful for Steve, with a few bumps on the road, like Tony excitedly asking Steve to marry him after the Supreme Court ruled that Same Sex Marriage should be legal on the Federal level and thus nationwide, and both getting too distracted to actually plan or schedule the damn thing.

Pepper might have a Pinterest page pinned full of ideas for Tony’s wedding, as she and Happy decided a humble ceremony might be best, after all, Tony would make the ceremony flashy enough with his presence.

Tony was so thrilled he got ordained so he could perform the ceremony, which Happy was excited about.

Afterward, they found two teenagers in a Hydra facility who Steve practically adopted, and Tony found another mark on his ledger, so he allowed Wanda and Pietro to join the Avengers while he worked to undo the damage his weapons had caused Sokovia. It took him two years to earn their forgiveness, but after Tony saved Pietro from a sniper, Wanda was the first to forgive him.

During the battle, the last of Hydra tried to destroy JARVIS with a viral attack, and JARVIS was so badly damaged, Tony and Bruce frantically spent three days trying to save him. In the end JARVIS split like a cell undergoing Mitosis, with one half remaining JARVIS who would recover with time and upgrades from an attentive Tony, the second half being downloaded into a robot body that Thor stabilized using the mind stone, and thus JARVIS, Tony, Bruce, and Thor had a son named Vision.

Bucky settled on being their grumpy uncle who spoiled/trained all three of them.

So, Steve and Tony settled on a date to get married in 2016, but then Peggy passed, and Steve and Tony were too heartbroken to do anything but postpone, and then found out a man who survived the warzone of Sokovia and blamed the Avengers for being too slow to stop his family from dying in the crossfire in the same fight that wounded Pietro, tried to frame the Avengers for bombing the UN.

The Avengers were frantic to prove their innocence, while Secretary of State Ross was ready to prove their guilt and pressure the UN to sign the Sokovia Accords, while a man in a vibranium catsuit tried to take down the Avengers. Bruce was the first to warn the Avengers that Ross was not a man to be trusted and was the first to repel the Black Panther in combat as the Hulk, a fight both barely managed to escape from unharmed.

Sam was the first to figure out that the masked figure, or “Cat Man” as Sam called him, was the Crowned Prince, newly King of Wakanda T’Challa after JARVIS confirmed that King T’Chaka was one of the casualties at the UN.

Sam was also the recruiting force to bringing in Antman when the authorities tried to capture the Avengers, and while Scott Laing managed to distract them as Giant Man, Steve, Tony, and Bucky snuck to Siberia where Zemo, to Tony’s horror, managed to use the codewords that hacked past all of Bucky’s deprogramming therapy and caused Steve and Tony to fight to contain the Winter Soldier.

They managed to subdue Bucky until Tony tried cognitive recalibration, which scared Steve as he was afraid Bucky would have gotten hurt, but Bucky snapped out of it.

In the chaos, T’Challa realized who was the real villain and captured Zemo and disarmed him before Zemo could escape in death and realize who was another one of Zemo’s victims offered Bucky a chance to rest in Wakanda where he could heal and be given access to phycological help there.

Princess Shuri was able to develop an algorithm within days after a private family fiasco and her brother opened up their country to the outside world. The algorithm helped remove the codewords from Bucky’s brain with Wanda’s help. Pietro settled for pestering Bucky during physical therapy, much to the Wakandan physical therapist’s annoyance, and was about to toss the young man out before Bucky snatched Pietro into a headlock and using his whiskery chin to give the struggling young man a noogie.

When Bucky was fully recovered, he decided to retire as an Avenger, only picking up his weapons whenever Steve called him to tell him the world was in danger, and Bucky found himself in herding goats. All the younger members were happy to swing by “Uncle Buck’s” Farm whenever they needed some time away from the rest of the world.

Tony promptly tracked down and hired Scott Laing and his friends into Stark Industries, much to Hank Pym’s frustrations, and Pepper made a new friend in Hope Pym.

Hank Pym conceded to give his daughter a suit of her own, and Wasp joined Antman as among the Avenger’s Recruits, with the help of the Avengers, Hope was able to find and free her mother from Quantum Subspace where Janet VanDyne had desperately fought her way out of.

A month later Pepper held the first girl’s night while Happy hung out with the male Avengers, both groups enjoying Pizza and Mad Max Fury Road that first night, something both groups were rather ignorant of after both sides vowed to have established fight-club-like rules about girls’ and guys’ night.

The Sokovian Accords died during the vote, and Ross was unable to get the Sokovian Accords to the UN, or the US Congress floor ever again.

A few weeks after Bucky settled into his new farm, Tony caught a glimpse of a youtube video, and JARVIS helped Tony track down Spiderman before the kid got hurt, and he and Steve had to develop an Avengers/Stark Industry Internship for young superheroes to train in a safe environment while gaining valuable job skills to get into college and develop their careers.

Tony as Ironman handed Spiderman an internship application while the kid stopped a purse snatcher, and Steve was surprised when the second application from Tennessee arrived.

Which lead to the chaos that was spring of 2018 when Steve and Tony had settled on a wedding date and spent that day scrambling back home from a multiverse adventure.

In typical fashion of their relationship, the day of their wedding didn’t go at all as Steve had planned.

For one thing ten minutes before he was supposed to shower and change for the ceremony after getting off of the last minute urgent mission, left Steve in his latest version of his Captain America armor instead of the “rental” tuxedo Tony gave him, something Steve suspected wasn’t the rental he assumed it was when Tony refused to tell him what he paid for it was.

For another, some maniac had decided to make his mark on the world by taking down the Avengers with his latest invention when he figured out how to crack the interdimensional barrier and set it to go off on the day of Tony Stark’s wedding. Something stupid about the size of his wings compared to Tonys’, Steve found the guy’s rant to be a confusing level of stupid, but the man set off the device before he could have stopped it.

So, Steve found himself alone in a foreign dimension.

“Steve, duck!”

Well, almost alone.

Steve automatically ducked and entered a roll to avoid getting hit by the identical copy, this one marked with a female symbol written on the back by a black sharpie as it sailed over his head to ricochet off the wall and take down some Hydra goons with Zola’s personal emblems.

In this dimension, it was Arnim Zola who tried the super soldier serum first, not Johann Schmidt, though the Red Skull did exist in this dimension too.

The shield bounced around before it returned to its original owner.

“Thanks for the warning Stella,” Steve grunted as he sprung back on to his feet to take out a few more goons with a well-aimed kick from below.

“He’s in the walls!” Stella Rogers-Stark exclaimed as she chased after the flashing lights and the cackling from the electric wires in the walls.

Steve quickly saw the light’s flickering and realized what direction Zola in his electric form was headed.

“He’s headed to the lab!” Steve exclaimed, ran to the lab door, and before Zola could activate the electric lock, kicked the cheap wooden door down.

Stella rushed in and pulled back in shock.

“Stella?” Steve asked, and looked inside, rushing in before Zola could reach them.

Inside was an eerie room filled with several cylinder tanks, reminding Steve of the Jellyfish tanks Steve saw when he and Tony tried a date at the aquarium, and only one was lit from the inside. Inside the light take, suspended in amniotic fluid appeared to be a full term human fetus, kicking and wiggling.

“What the?” Steve said aloud.

“You son a bitch,” Stella growled.

“But of course, Captain America, what could you expect, Science may not have saved my body originally, as my version of the Serum had a smaller half-life than yours, but that could not mean that we could not create the perfect race with our own genome, as you and I are, as Schmidt said before the tesseract vaporized him in the war,” Zola gloated, his ghostly image appearing in a projector, “we are beyond the reach of mortals, and its’ about time you accepted that help us create the perfect race by becoming the moth—”

Zola was interrupted when Steve and Stella both chucked their shields, Steve right at the projector he triangulated to find, (see Tony, Steve can so figure out advanced technology) and Stella by hitting the power generator and locking Zola in the wires.

But not before some klaxons went off, and the water in the tanks started draining.

The baby inside began to squirm and kick in reaction to the flashing lights, loud noise, and shrinking space causing the little baby to panic.

Steve was by the cylinder’s side at once, and he located the lid at the top, and with Stella giving him a boost, Steve reached in and grabbed the baby, pulling them out and cradling the little baby close as they started screaming at the sudden exposure in the air for the first time in their entire existence.

“Here, cut the cord and let’s get out of here,” Stella exclaimed as she placed Steve down, and pulled out some small lab shears and a towel from one of the lab countertops.

Steve cut the cord and wrapped the baby in the towel, finding a formula in one of the fridges, and some lab replicated antibodies and began to give the baby his first meal while the baby was slung in a bundle around his chest.

It took a while, but in the end, they escaped from the lab by rushing out of the metallic staircase while Zola tried to take control of the whole facility.

However, because Hydra was a many-headed figure, one of Schmidt’s henchmen, in the spirit of his long fallen leader, who took the opportunity Steve and Stella presented, to activate the self-destruct sequence of the lab while Zola screamed in rage.

Steve and Stella kept running and the lab imploded and sank into a deep underground depression, taking out most of Zola’s henchmen, and Schmidt’s spy escaped on the back of a jetpack.

“It figures, I just wish they were able to fully take each other out, but they need each other to survive as much as they wish to take each other down, so that means I have to keep fighting to take them both out,” Stella grunted in disgust. “But it only weakened Zola’s power base, and once he reestablishes his power, he’s going to go after me first, because he can’t touch Schmidt.”

The baby chirped from his towel sling.

“Where did this little guy come from?” Steve asked.

“You mean besides here?” Stella snipped, and Steve had to admit it was an odd question.

“Yes.”

“About a year ago, I was approached by a friend of mine, she wanted children, but after some radiation exposure, she found that her gametes were producing inviable eggs. I had plenty of viable eggs, and I didn’t have the time or the inclination to become a mother, so I offered to donate my eggs for her and her husband to have,” Stella began sadly, “but the clinic we used got broken into, we thought at the time it was by someone who assumed it was an abortion clinic, as there was graffiti all over the women’s health clinic, and many samples were destroyed or missing, and it looks like we found the last one of mine.”

Steve looked at the baby, “But if Zola was mostly electricity, where would he…”

“He still has access to his original body, frozen tissue samples are his kind of thing, and under the right conditions, viable DNA can be extracted, perhaps even sperm samples, and one, two, three, a baby grew in a tank,” Stella showed Steve the projected holograms containing the files, including some footage of sperm samples be extracted from frozen tissue.

Steve didn’t want to think too hard where that sample came from.

The baby began to fuss and Steve rocked the little guy, who didn’t seem to find much comfort in that, so Steve tried a gentle up and down motion, which worked much better.

Stella, however, seemed more interested in the data and the files, and only looked upon the baby in abstract confusion, more like she knew there should be a bond there but didn’t feel it.

“Stella?’ Steve asked, and Stella seemed to draw her own conclusions and shook her head.

“I’m fine, I need to make a call.”

“Go ahead,” Steve said, finding a log so he could continue to soothe the baby, which Steve realized, the baby started crying because the baby peed in their towel.

Steve began cleaning a fashioning a new diaper immediately.

He looked up to find Stella watching him like he was a rare painting from an extremely important artist, before she turned away, her hand reaching a small earpiece inside her helmet.

“Nat, we’re out of the lab, and we’ve obtained the data and a few guests of the friendly kind. Please send in the extraction team.”

Steve could barely hear a woman’s voice over the other end, but he didn’t think it was Natasha’s voice he could hear.

Steve then turned the new diaper out of towel scraps and picked up the baby. “It’s a boy,” Steve gently announced to Stella, and Stella pursed her lips, like Steve did when he felt uncomfortable about something, but knew he’d have to face it to find a solution to the problem.

“Stella!” A woman’s computerized voice cried.

“Over here!” Steve shouted, and a man in a skin-tight leather suit and a woman in red and gold armor appeared outside clearing they found.

“How’s the battle?” Stella asked, as Natasha Stark took off her mask and landed next to her wife, both women kissed heatedly before Natasha answered.

Nathaniel Romanoff raised a red eyebrow at Steve, and both men turned away to give the women some privacy.

The baby, after devouring his bottle earlier, began to fuss and Steve propped him on to his shoulder to burp him, remembering Bucky trying this with his sisters with success.

Steve succeeded in ignoring the results of his success as it dribbled down his back, how wings wiggled to avoid the mess. Nathaniel shuddered and didn’t examine the spit up closely.

“We won Stella, but the war’s not over yet, we need Captain America to lead us, I’m afraid I’m not much of a leader without my honey bunny by my side,” Stark whispered to her wife.

“I have one last thing I need to take care of first, Steve?” Stella called.

“Yes, Stella?” Steve handed the baby to the Black Mamba, who promptly panicked at suddenly being handed a tiny little human, but the baby was content to nuzzle the warm black leather he was up against.

“I need to fight in this war, and I can’t do that with a newborn, and you mentioned that Hydra is no more in your home-verse, and I can’t think of a better revenge against Zola than having his son be raised by his greatest enemy forever beyond his reach, so would you be his father instead?”

“I know nothing about kids either, but I doubt any kid deserves to be raised by Hydra, so why not have the best man we know to be his adopted dad, and because you share the same DNA as Stella, you can claim paternity, and most tests, and Jerry Springer, can point to you as the baby daddy.” Natasha Stark explained, with a shrug.

Steve didn’t know why he wasn’t surprised that Jerry Springer was a thing here.

Steve was floored. “Of course, Stella, anything for you.”

Stella smiled weakly, and with the help of her wife, got to her feet. “Now that that’s settled, let’s see if we can get father and son home.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” A new voice interrupted them with a shower of fine golden glitter.

“Strange, you’re here,” Steve said, relieved to see a familiar face.

“What was the last thing Tony said to either of us before the dimensioning device exploded and we wound up spread across the multiverse?” Stephen Strange asked Steve Rogers.

“Nothing directly at us, he looked at your assistant and said ‘Wong, you’re invited to our wedding,’” Steve chuckled, reaching for the baby, who the Black Mamba passed over promptly. The baby squawked his complaint about losing a source of heat but soothed when he realized he was being passed to a better one.

“A wedding?” Natasha asked with interest, and even Nathaniel looked curious.

“That’s what I would have been doing if I hadn’t wound up here,” Steve explained, “It’s been a bit of an ordeal to plan and arrange.”

“Why not a courthouse ceremony? Nat here knew someone in who got us in, out, and married rather inexpensively and under twenty minutes,” Stella asked, “better than all those bridal magazines we kept getting as teens.”

“Because that would make sense,” Steve teased, and they laughed a little at the joke.

“That’s the Steve Rogers I’m looking for,” Strange said, his dark raven wings fluttering, a small smear of grey at the base of his wings, as the doctor glanced at the baby.

“We’re giving him that child to adopt, so you better make sure he gets there safely,” Stella warned.

Strange nodded, after regarding her carefully, and examined the baby in Steve’s arms.

“Neurologically this child appears healthy, but I’d recommend you take him to a pediatrician as soon as possible, I think you and Tony will have a lot to discuss when you two get home,” Strange said before he turned around and opened a portal and Steve recognized his version of Stark Tower beyond it.

“Stella, do you wish to say goodbye?” Steve asked.

Stella shook her head, “No, I want this to be a cleanly closed adoption, I know I made the right choice.” Natasha held her hand reassuringly.

“Do you want to at least know his name?” Steve asked.

“Sure.”

“It’s Ian.”

“Fine name, I know you’ll raise him well Steve,” Natasha called as Stella grinned and waved him on, relief was rich on her face.

Steve saluted his female counterpart and carried Ian home with Dr. Strange behind him.

Steve was greeted by his fiancé, who looked tired and ragged and also holding a newborn.

“I take it you got a souvenir from a multiverse?” Steve asked Tony.

“This little guy just lost his last parent in childbirth, his sire died in battle trying to protect them, and I had a trying day where I had to watch someone who looked like myself give birth.” Tony croaked.

“Funny, same here, only Ian’s here a test tube baby, and my version decided the best f—forget you to the baby’s sperm donor was to give the baby to Captain America to be raised here,” Steve said, lifting little Ian, and censoring himself at the last minute, and Steve held out his free arm to hold Tony close, he could see the faint lines of grief on Tony’s face and gave him the dignity of his privacy.

“What’s our child’s name, this little guy is Ian,” Steve whispered.

“Morgan, his dam wished it on his last breath, and I thought it was a good name.”

“His?” Steve asked, before realizing Morgan’s parents might have been a transman and their lover.

“They had secondary sexes in that world, it’s complex and I don’t really understand it, but I don’t want to revisit that dystopia, but puberty might be trying for Morgan,” Tony grunted, “Apparently I’m what’s called a ‘Beta’, meanwhile my counterpart was an ‘Omega’.”

“Okay, we were both women in the verse I just came from.”

“Were we a couple?” Tony asked hopefully.

“We had been married for three years there, they recommend and courthouse ceremony, because it allowed them to get married without distractions.”

“Sir, I have drawn up adoption papers for a pair of twin boys, and I have contacted a few people to make sure the boys get adopted properly, and I must say I welcome your new sons,” JARVIS called out and Tony grinned.

“Looks like we need to get hitched shortly, we’ve got two kids now.” Tony grinned.

“Mr. Stark, do you want to hear how my adventure went?” Peter asked from the door, he was covered in what smelled like low tide, and he was followed in by his fellow intern Harley.

“Shoot, both of you, adventure report,” Tony called, rocking Ian, while Steve started to bond with Morgan.

“Well, in my verse everyone but me was mer-people, and we had to take down a sea monster called Stane,” Peter reported, pulling kelp out of his hair.

“Was that all? Man, the verse I visited was boring!” Harley exclaimed.

“Why’s that?” Peter asked confusedly.

“Because the universe I visited, you guys weren’t superheroes, you were all D&D nerds!”


End file.
